LITIGATION SUPPORT AND FORENSIC SERVICES

Why You Need Litigation Support and/or Forensic Services

Litigation Support Services

Our firm works with law firms to provide litigation support services. We act as either a consultant to the attorney to help build a case or as an independent expert to conduct an examination, render an opinion, and provide expert testimony.

To be effective as a forensic accountant, one needs extensive experience in the fields of finance, accounting, taxes and auditing. Since the work of the forensic accountant will many times be used in a court of law, expertise in litigation support and testimony in courts of law are also prerequisites of the forensic accountant. A knowledge of business valuation theory is most helpful because many times a forensic accountant is called upon to determine the damages which have resulted from the criminal or civil wrongdoing.

We can provide assistance in many areas including, but not limited to:

Valuations

Property settlements

The financial terms of buy/sell agreements

Product liability damage cases

Professional malpractice cases

Federal and state taxation matters

Human life value

Forensic Services

A recent study by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners reported that small businesses are among the most vulnerable to fraud. The most costly abuses occur in organizations with less than 100 employees. The median dollar loss per number of employees for companies with 1-100 employees is nearly as high as that for companies with more than 100,000 employees.

Fraud is accomplished in 80% of cases by Asset Misappropriation, while Bribery and Corruption constitute 10% of offenses, and various other areas total to the balance.

Forensic Accounting is the science that deals with the relation and application of finance, accounting, tax and auditing knowledge to analyze, investigate, inquire, test and examine matters in civil law, criminal law and jurisprudence in an attempt to obtain the truth from which to render an expert opinion. In legal matters, forensic accountants are often engaged to assist in investigations of theft and defalcation of corporate and individual assets using their education and experience to discuss the fact patterns of the theft or misappropriation.

Forensic accountants do not win or lose cases but seek only the truth in conducting their evaluations, examinations and inquiries, reporting the true results of their findings in an unbiased and objective manner.

Forensic accountants are also called upon to review business’ accounting systems and, based on their experience, make recommendations as to how the system of internal control and internal check can be improved to prevent theft and fraud. Because of their education, background and experience, forensic accountants add an additional dimension to this work.

We offer the following litigation support and forensic accounting services:

Tax matters include tax advocacy, compilation and review of financial statements, tax reporting, and tax planning in such areas as income and estate matters.

CFFA

The Certified Forensic Financial Analyst (CFFA) designation has been developed by the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts (NACVA) to provide assurance to the legal community that the designee possesses a level of experience and knowledge deemed acceptable by the association to provide competent and professional forensic financial support services.

Earning the credential requires consideration of all the person’s qualifications and commitment to the discipline including:

Prior education and experience

Prerequisite and required training as provided by NACVA

Pass a rigorous written exam

Be a NACVA member in good standing

Proof of substantial experience providing litigation consulting defined as having rendered services in ten different litigation matters, with at least five including depositions and/or testifying in court

An applicant who fulfills all of the certification requirements except the experience requirement is deemed a CFFA Candidate.

Selecting a Litigation Support and/or Forensic Service Professional

Because of our many years of experience, we understand financial issues and are ready to assist you and your clients with these issues in complete confidentiality, engaged as either consultants in a case, or as experts whose work is intended to inform the court. Besides all of our experts being CPA’s, two are Certified Valuation Analysts.

Your Best Choice for Litigation Support and Forensic Services

Pue, Chick, Leibowitz & Blezard, LLC, located in Vernon Connecticut, is a full service accounting and consulting firm providing tax, accounting, forensic, financial planning, litigation support and management advisory services. Since 1955, our firm is committed to the highest quality professional service to ensure the financial success of our clients.